Trip Report Back to Disneyland & Ringin' in 2016!

This is my second trip report that I've done, I wrote my last one for a surprise trip I gave to my husband in November 2015. I had a lot of fun sharing our trip I decided to share another.
Hope you enjoy it!

Backstory:

My husband and I went to Disneyland in July/August 2015 for 9 days and were planning a two week trip to WDW in 2015, we worked out that the cheapest option for passes was getting the Premier Pass that covered both parks. While in Disneyland in the summer we decided that since we had never seen Disneyland decorated for Christmas we would make our pass even "cheaper" and go to Disneyland after Christmas.

We are from northern Wisconsin and normally fly out of Minneapolis, but since it was Christmastime we had family obligations and had to visit my husband's family in Chicago. So we had a round-about way to get to Los Angeles....we flew from Minneapolis to Chicago spent some time with the in-laws, then flew to LA from Chicago, then when we left LA it was back to Minneapolis and then home. Oh and while we were gone our kitchen was getting redone so we had to clean out our whole kitchen (that made Christmas dinner a challenge), but that was fun to come back to.

As for the travelers, it is just my husband and myself. We are two peas in a pod!

On to the report!. Our travel dates were December 29, 2015 to January 2, 2016.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Carsland is always awesome in the day and night at regular times of the year but it was even more fantastic decorated for the holidays!

Mater is at the Cozy Cone.

..

Another stage set up for NYE. We didn't end up going to this stage on NYE because it was a country band, and hubby doesn't like country music at all.

It was pretty cool that the snowflakes were made up wrenches.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We decided to hop in the single rider line for Racers, the wait was about 15-20 minutes for that. The regular in was about an hour, if I remember right. After Racers we did a little shopping, then headed out past Soarin' and decided not to ride and out through the Grand Californian.

The Storytellers statue.

A shirt hubby wanted but it wasn't in his size.

A cool display in the top area of Elias and Company.

The trees decorated by Soarin'

The Christmas display at the entrance to the Grand Californian, I tried to take this while walking...I guess it partially worked out.

On the way back to the hotel for the night we swung into the Paradise Pier hotel and checked out their tree. It was neat to see the beachy theme to it. We basically just breezed past, hubby had a cold for the first couple days of our trip and he was pretty tired and had been such a trooper all day so I didn't want to keep him from his sleep.

Day Three....December 31 New Years Eve coming up soon!

 

[Cesar R M]

Carsland is always awesome in the day and night at regular times of the year but it was even more fantastic decorated for the holidays!
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Mater is at the Cozy Cone.
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Another stage set up for NYE. We didn't end up going to this stage on NYE because it was a country band, and hubby doesn't like country music at all.
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It was pretty cool that the snowflakes were made up wrenches.
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I spy lightning mcqueen as well!

 

[MinnieM123]

By the way, I love your hat! It's so cute. All the pictures are great, as usual. The one photo that stood out in particular to me, was the Storytellers' Statue; I don't think I've ever seen that before. It's very attractive.

 

[betty rose]

The Christmas parade was really nice to see and we had good seats. I prefer the MK's Christmas parade and song, but overall I think both are well done.
I was impressed that the first float had a ballet dancer on it. As I am not graceful at all, I couldn't imagine doing something like this on a moving vehicle.
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Next up were the Toy Soliders. I love me some toy soliders in the MK's Christmas parade, and I was not disappointed with these. I kind of think the whole parade could just be the toy soliders, with a dash of gingerbread men, and prancing reindeer.
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I was so caught up in the Toy Soliders, I almost missed the next float! Which had Mickey on it! I can't believe I almost missed Mickey.
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Then came some rascal...Chip and Dale!
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Next in the parade came some dancing snowmen and women. I thought they were cute, hubby thought they were creepy. What do you think?
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I like the snowmen.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

By the way, I love your hat! It's so cute. All the pictures are great, as usual. The one photo that stood out in particular to me, was the Storytellers' Statue; I don't think I've ever seen that before. It's very attractive.

Thanks about the hat and the pictures. I also had Minnie gloves, from Kohl's, I think you had posted a link to it once.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Day Three: New Year's Eve.
We knew that today would busy so our main plan of attack was to do some of the popular stuff early in the day, and by lunch time be ready to take it slow. And that is what we did we were very busy in the morning at Disneyland and then relaxed with a leisurely lunch, and the afternoon was spend doing some shows (Mickey and the Magical map, Path of the Jedi, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln) and low key attractions and a few fast passes on some things.

We got a locker for the day, we actually did a lot of days we were there. A small locker was $7 and fit our jackets and a backpack.

Carnation Café: this would be our place for dinner tonight.

We decided to go to Haunted Mansion for the holiday overlay again at some point in the morning and we had beignets too. We hit the beignets at the right time because by the time we were done eating the line was really long, probably about a 20 min wait.

A couple pictures from the ride as best my camera with no flash could take.

Candy Cane beignets, the peppermint flavor was really subtle.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I completely forgot about the scents on the Jingle Cruise and Haunted Mansion Holiday. It was a nice touch for both. Funny that you showed the tree in the Firehouse window. I was still a bit sad about not seeing the lamp up there. Glad to see your parade pics too. We saw one little portion from afar, so I'll have to live vicariously through your parade experience

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I completely forgot about the scents on the Jingle Cruise and Haunted Mansion Holiday. It was a nice touch for both. Funny that you showed the tree in the Firehouse window. I was still a bit sad about not seeing the lamp up there. Glad to see your parade pics too. We saw one little portion from afar, so I'll have to live vicariously through your parade experience

I thought it was a nice touch to have a tree in the window, especially when our holiday tour guide told us that Walt put a Christmas tree in the window while he was alive at Christmas. The parade was fun to see and it was really nice having the seating for it. We also caught a little of it another day from the Jolly Holiday as we were have a snack.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

This past summer my husband and I celebrated Frontierland with a Frontierland Friday. How did we celebrate? Well we bought sheriff badges with our names on it, work Big Thunder Mountain tee shirts, rode Big Thunder 5 times in a row, and did everything possible in Frontierland. (Yes we are strange.) Anyway, hubby lost his badge somewhere between California and home. We had looked in WDW for a badge with his name and they didn't have one (strange because he has a common boy name), so we went back to the Frontierland store in DL and he finally got a new badge. Long story and what is the point? While he looked for his badge, I looked at the details of the store and there were some neat details. Now that we both have badges, Frontierland Friday shall return when we go to WDW. Hubby also wants to do Tomorrowland Tuesday now.

Frontierland Mercantile

Then to Indiana Jones.

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Then at a comfort break I was just looking around the Adventureland/Frontierland area and snapped these fun shots while waiting.

Then as I was sitting on a bench the Disneyland band marched by and played directly in front of my bench. Oh YEAH!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Then it was Tiki time, had to visit the birds. No Dole whip for me though, I had to save room for lunch at Café Orleans.

While waiting for our table at Café Orleans I saw this decoration and thought it was neat.

The Bootstrappers were also playing.

We finally got seated, and enjoyed what we could see of the view. It was super crowded now by lunch time, so time for us to enjoy a leisurely lunch and slow down for the day. So lunch at Café Orleans....

We shared the pomme frittes (also known as potatoes from heaven) and a cup of gumbo (the gumbo was okay, not something we will get again).

And we shared the monte cristos. I do not like powdered sugar on the monte cristos, so ours were without powdered sugar. I usually dip mine in ketchup or leftover pomme fritte sauce.

A close up with my friend, I mean my lunch.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A little look at the Haunted Mansion.

Then we caught the train and rode to Tomorrowland before going to Star Wars Launch Bay.

As we passed by it's a small world the Christmas parade was going on.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We took some time to look at the subs.

One of the NYE entertainment stages set up for the night. We were planning on spending our NYE in this area, but plans do change....

As you may recall our plan for the afternoon was to do shows, and Disneyland doesn't have a lot of shows but it does have Mickey and the Magical Map. It is awesome! I love it.

Coming up soon, the rest of New Years Eve!

 

[Figgy1]

I love the Yen Sid pic but thank you, thank you, thank you for the Tiki bird pics. I love those guys. I even liked UNM.

 

[MinnieM123]

Wow! Those subs are really fun. They're something we don't see at WDW. I like how DL and WDW have their own unique attractions and details. That's why it's enjoyable for me to read people's TRs, because of the diversity in photos and commentary.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I love the Yen Sid pic but thank you, thank you, thank you for the Tiki bird pics. I love those guys. I even liked UNM.

The Tiki room is always a favorite, now. When I was a teen I thought it was boring and dumb and my mother loved the tiki room so I gave her a hard time about it. I wish I hadn't been such a poop about it, because now I see why she loved it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wow! Those subs are really fun. They're something we don't see at WDW. I like how DL and WDW have their own unique attractions and details. That's why it's enjoyable for me to read people's TRs, because of the diversity in photos and commentary.

Thanks, the subs are fun to watch a little bit cramped inside though. I also like that DL and WDW have some different attractions and differences in detail. It gives me an excuse to go to both! (Not that I really need and excuse! )

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Funny...your 12/31 dining is pretty much identical to our 12/30 dining. We had lunch at Cafe Orleans and dinner at Carnation Cafe. I wish we'd been able to see Mickey and the Magical Map, but DH is sort of anti show. I can usually get in one per trip so I had to choose very carefully. The videos I've seen of the Magical Map show look pretty neat though.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Continuing on with NYE coverage....
We had a mid-afternoon snack at the Jolly Holiday. The mint chocolate whoopee pie was amazing (we shouldn't have shared), the other was a chocolate "mousse" brownie (very disappointing the mousse is what you see on top). I think we actually had the brownie thing in the summer but I didn't remember it until we started eating. I also ordered the Matterhorn macaroon, as I've been wanting to try it for quite awhile, it was good but I didn't want to fill up since we were doing the Carnation Café for dinner.

Soon after we sat down the Christmas Parade started. We didn't have a great view of it but that is okay, it was nice to see what we could. I was actually surprised to be able to a table as many people were camped out waiting for the parade.

A nice little view of Mickey!

Hubby wanted to see the Dapper Dans. So we ended up watching the flag retreat, it is always a nice patriotic experience. Actually, a nice little story: I went to the area around the flag pole to get hubby and I a spot and I found a spot near a rail. About 5 seconds later this random guy who was standing by a nearby garbage can. Told me to move to a spot that was open directly across the way from me (behind the flag pole). He said that where I was sitting, I would be asked to move because that is where the band would stand. But he didn't tell anyone else, he kind of whispered it in my ear. I was like oh thanks! (I didn't remember where the band stood during the ceremony). So I moved. As I was moving quickly to that last open spot, I though that maybe he was just after my spot and I had been conned. But I moved to the new spot, he went back to his garbage can and sure enough a couple minutes later those people I had been by on the railing were asked to move! I was pretty grateful to that guy because I (and hubby when he joined me) had a perfect spot. I wanted to say thanks to him after the flag retreat but I couldn't find him.

I had been on the railing directly behind the last guy on the left . Glad I moved.

Dapper Dans were really fast to move in, I thought they would stand in front of the band, so I wasn't really ready for them. Hence the blurr. Instead they stood in front of me.

Flags being retreated. (Is retreated the correct term?)

After the flag retreat we went into the Disneyland Gallery and checked out the displays. Then we went into Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Honestly, we did that just to nap. We are old (okay, maybe not, late 30's) and we hadn't been making it to close without our usual afternoon nap at the hotel. We also knew NYE would be busy and didn't want to be closed out of the park. So hubby had a good nap with Mr. Lincoln and I just rested my eyes. It was still refreshing though.
Anyway, I got this shot in the Disneyland Gallery, the more I look at it the more I find it interesting. It is a mirror used in the Golden Horseshoe show,and the sketch of Disneyland on the wall. I think the dark outline of the two people in it add a special touch. I don't think I was trying to be artsy at the time, I think I was trying to get a little of both objects and the notecard in a somewhat readable spot.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We had some time have our time at Lincoln and before dinner so we caught another show of the Dapper Dans. They did all Christmas music, so that was fun. They are a hoot everytime.

Shortly after the Dapper Dans we checked into the Carnation Café, I was hoping for an outside table so we could see a little of Paint the Night. I didn't want to hold out for only an outside table, we did have to wait about 10 minutes for a table and then we were taken outside. It was kind of funny watching people come into the restaurant wanting to be seated without a reservation. Some people were okay with it, some befuddled (with a its Disneyland not WDW, I shouldn't need an ADR), and some people got mad. I told hubby, it's New Year's Eve, what do people expect? Even in our hometown we wouldn't go to a restaurant without a reservation on New Years Eve!

Baked potato soup, I had wanted to try this in August but it was just too hot outside for soup at the time. So with 50 degree temps it was perfect. There was a nice heater near our table, and that puppy put out a lot of heat! The soup was good, but really needed some salt and pepper.

I was hoping they would space out our food since technically the soup kind of an appetizer. But I took about 4 spoonfulls and our main dishes came out. We still had a lot of time about 30 minutes before PTN would be going by so we ate really slow.

I got the fried chicken with extra gravy. It was really tasty, the chicken is basically fried chicken breast. The country gravy is good, if you like gravy ask for extra, because even with ordering extra gravy I could have used more. (My secret though, I love gravy and even if the plate had been totally covered I still would have wanted more. Seriously I could really lap up some country gravy.)

Hubby got the meatloaf. He was very pleased with his choice. I had a bite and it was good.

The view from our table.

Our hot fudge sundae for dessert.

So even when we were planning at home our plan was to ring in the New Year (at midnight) at Disneyland. (I secretly wanted to be at DCA but hubby was really gung ho about Disneyland, so I didn't mention it more than once.) We revised our plan on the holiday tour to being in the small world area instead of Main Street. So NYE arrives and we went rouge. We decided since they were showing the NYE fireworks at 9pm (to celebrate with WDW) that if we could get a spot on Main Street after dinner we would do that and then go to DCA. If we couldn't get a spot then it was back to the small world and do midnight back there.

Anyway, after dinner we found a spot on Main Street, we only had to hold it for about 2 hours. Soon after we had our spot on Main Street they roped off the whole street and out we went into the middle of Main Street. Hubby and I found a spot in the middle of Main Street and about a minute later this lady (about my age) and her mom sat next to us. She was really friend and started chatting. Anyway, she said that they were doing these fireworks and then going home because her mom didn't want to wait until midnight, and gave us her fast passes to the midnight World of Color! LOVE IT!!! So now the plan definitely changed to 9pm fireworks at DL and then moseying over to DCA for midnight! This lady, Angela, was a hoot to talk to, she and I chatted for almost the whole 2 hours. I am a little shy and never do that, but it was like talking to an old friend. My husband took a picture of us together but I decided not to share it because I didn't know if she would appreciate having her picture posted on the internet without knowing. (Although in the picture below a little bit of her mom is in the picture, opps) Oh and she gave us the NYE hats too, Disney was giving them out and she had picked up extras.

Here is a zoomed in castle.

And the throngs of people.